Chronology of N. Korea visits by high-profile U.S. figures

SEOUL, Aug. 4 (Yonhap) -- The following is a chronology of trips made to North
Korea by high-profile U.S. officials and figures since 1994.

Jan. 27-Feb. 1, 1994 -- U.S. evangelist Rev. Billy Graham preaches at Pyongyang's
Pongsu Church and meets with North Korean President Kim Il-sung. He delivered a
secret message from Kim to U.S. President Bill Clinton.

June 15-17, 1994 -- Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter meets with North Korean
President Kim Il-sung, after which Pyongyang agrees to freeze its nuclear arms
development program, suspend nuclear fuel reprocessing, accept visits by U.N.
monitors and hold dialogue with South Korea in exchange for energy aid and
diplomatic incentives. The commitments were put down in writing in the Geneva
Agreed Framework between the U.S. and North Korea in October that year.

Dec. 11-12, 1994 -- Senators Paul Simon and Frank Murkowski travel to Pyongyang
to discuss the implementation of the Geneva agreement with Kim Yong-nam, North
Korea's deputy prime minister and foreign minister.

Dec. 17-30, 1994 -- Thomas Hubbard, the U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state,
visits North Korea as a special envoy to negotiate the release of U.S. Army
helicopter pilot Bobby Hall. Hall was freed 13 days after his helicopter strayed
into North Korea. Days earlier, New Mexico Representative Bill Richardson flew to
Pyongyang to negotiate the return of the body of Hill's flying partner, David
Hilemon, killed when their copter was apparently shot down.

Nov. 25-27, 1996 -- Richardson negotiates the release of Evan Hunziker, an
American who swam across the Amnok (Yalu) River from China into North Korea and
was jailed for three months in the North on spy charges.

March 28-29, 1997 -- U.S. senators led by Ted Stevens travel to Pyongyang to
discuss establishing liaison offices in each other's capitals.

Aug. 9-11, 1997 -- Porter Goss, chairman of the U.S. House Intelligence
Committee, visits North Korea to discuss the repatriation of the remains of U.S.
soldiers who fought in the Korean War and the opening of liaison offices.

Nov. 16-18, 1998 -- Charles Kartman, U.S. special envoy to the Korean peace
process, meets with North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan in Pyongyang.

March 29-30, 1999 -- Robert Einhorn, deputy assistant secretary for
nonproliferation at the U.S. State Department, visits Pyongyang for the fourth
round of missile talks with Jang Chang-chon, director-general for the North
Korean Foreign Ministry's U.S. affairs department.

May 14-15, 1999 -- Charles Kartman, U.S. special envoy to the Korean peace
process, again meets with North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Kye-gwan.

May 20-24, 1999 -- Joel Wit, deputy chief of the Korea desk at the U.S. State
Department, leads a U.S. inspection team to the suspected North Korean nuclear
site at Kumchangri.

May 25-28, 1999 -- William Perry, special advisor to the U.S. president on North
Korea, delivers a letter from Bill Clinton to Kim Jong-il through Kim Yong-nam,
North Korea's ceremonial head of state.

May 23-27, 2000 -- Charles Pritchard, the Bush administration's special envoy for
negotiations with North Korea, visits the suspect nuclear site at Kumchangri.

Oct. 23-25, 2000 -- U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright makes a historic
visit to North Korea and holds two rounds of talks with Kim Jong-il, discussing
ways to ease tension on the Korean Peninsula and the opening of diplomatic
missions in each other's capitals.

Oct. 3-5, 2002 -- U.S. Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly visits North
Korea as President George W. Bush's special envoy and later says Pyongyang
admitted to operating an uranium enrichment program.

May 30, 2003 -- Six U.S. congressmen including Curt Weldon meet North Korean
Foreign Minister Paek Nam-sun over ways to resolve the nuclear dispute.

Jan. 8-11, 2005 -- U.S. Congressman Tom Lantos presents Libya as a model for
solving the North Korean nuclear dispute in a meeting with North Korea's vice
foreign minister, Kim Kye-gwan.

April 8-11, 2007 -- New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson and Victor Cha, Asia
director at the National Security Council, travel to North Korea to discuss the
repatriation of the remains of U.S. soldiers who fought in the Korean War and
press for the dismantlement of the North's nuclear program.

June 21-22, 2007 -- Christopher Hill, U.S. chief envoy to the six-party nuclear
talks, travels to North Korea.

May 8-10, 2008 -- Sung Kim, head of the U.S. State Department's Korea desk,
travels to North Korea and receives a declaration of its nuclear stockpile at its
Yongbyon facility.

Oct. 1-3, 2008 -- Hill visits Pyongyang to discuss the verification of North
Korea's nuclear program.

Aug. 4, 2009 -- U.S. former President Bill Clinton arrives in Pyongyang in a
visit believed to be aimed at securing the release of two detained American
journalists. Laura Ling and Euna Lee from the San Francisco-based media group
Current TV were detained on the China-North Korea border on March 17 while
reporting on North Korean defectors.
hkim@yna.co.kr
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